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Concerto SD-card multicart ordering info


batari

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I was finally able to snag one last time after being alerted by this stock script i wrote, I no longer need it so if someone feels like adapting it for their uses here you go:

 

#!/bin/sh
curl -s 'https://cdn5.editmysite.com/app/store/api/v17/editor/users/134737747/sites/969934699484555394/products?page=1&per_page=50&ids[]=1&ids[]=5&visibilities[]=visible&visibilities[]=hidden&include=images,category,media_files&excluded_fulfillment=dine_in' | tee /tmp/concerto.json | jq -r '.data[].inventory.total' | grep '^[^0]$' && echo 'concerto in stock! https://erstwhile-technologies-7800.square.site/' | sendxmpp you@example.org

Needless to say I can't wait for the Concerto to arrive. :D

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7 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I being a total mess right now have misplaced the top half of the shell. (I am bitterly regretting getting the clear shell.)

 

Is it a custom case or will any 7800 shell, with some cuts to make room for the SD card, do?

Concerto fits most easily in a standard Atari 7800 shell, the kind without the dust door.

 

I will also fit in the kind with the coil-spring dust door with some minor mods to the dust door.

 

It also fits in a 2600 shell with a few more minor mods. I have begun using 2600 shells for Concertos due to a shortage of 7800 shells and in many ways these shells are better.

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7 hours ago, ChrisKewl said:

Extra memory?

Current production Concerto carts support up to 512k ROMs (Excluding 512k + RAM) and have a socket for a POKEY or (when available) HOKEY chip; the chip is not installed or provided.  

 

Ultimately, production Concerto carts will be made available that support up to 1024k ROMs (Including 512k + RAM), and have a socket with a HOKEY provided and installed (Optionally).

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2 hours ago, Trebor said:

Current production Concerto carts support up to 512k ROMs (Excluding 512k + RAM) and have a socket for a POKEY or (when available) HOKEY chip; the chip is not installed or provided.  

 

Ultimately, production Concerto carts will be made available that support up to 1024k ROMs (Including 512k + RAM), and have a socket with a HOKEY provided and installed (Optionally).

Does this mean the cart I got from the production release of Concerto only has half of the ROM and no RAM? @batari

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My Dragonfly was a repaired by rj1307 (thanks rj1307!) but for some reason is stuck in some kind of international mail vortex and is now on it way back to to Europe from NYC.
I need cart to test my 7800 homebrews on real hardware, and now it's been almost 4 months now

I'm desperate for one of these.

Please make more.

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37 minutes ago, fultonbot said:

My Dragonfly was a repaired by rj1307 (thanks rj1307!) but for some reason is stuck in some kind of international mail vortex and is now on it way back to to Europe from NYC.
I need cart to test my 7800 homebrews on real hardware, and now it's been almost 4 months now

I'm desperate for one of these.

Please make more.

Order page is here:

https://erstwhile-technologies-7800.square.site/product/concerto-cartridge/5?cs=true&cst=custom

 

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On 12/11/2020 at 6:54 PM, batari said:

For those who aren't aware, Concerto is an advanced microcontroller-based SD-card flashcart with an onscreen menu, that is designed to support all of the original Atari 7800 titles and all original Atari 2600 titles, plus most of the modern homebrew titles and demos. It supports POKEY sound (POKEY chip not included) and other sound sources are on the drawing board (see below). Concerto is reverse-compatible with Harmony Encore so it plays all 2600 games that work on Encore, including the newer DPC+, CDFJ and other ARM-based games, and you can even load the Harmony Encore firmware on it and it will function exactly like one.

 

The Concerto has a total of 520k of RAM, 32k of parallel flash and 2MB of serial flash. Currently games up to 144k are supported, and work is being done to support the larger games.

 

SD cards can be FAT or FAT32 formatted, up to 32GB in size. Setting up the Concerto is easy: just put your A78 files or Atari 2600 games on the SD card, plug into the Concerto and go.

 

The onscreen menu display is 40 characters wide, but can display long filenames up to 240 characters as well. There is no hard limit to how many levels deep you can go with subdirectories. It supports up to 10,000 entries in a directory, and though currently the files aren't sorted, I am working on automatic sorting alphabetically.

 

The firmware is still in development, so you are expected to keep up on firmware updates for the latest features and bug fixes.

 

How to order Concerto:

 

Until now, I have been putting up small batches but they have been selling out quickly, to the chagrin of many.


I don't like preorder lists, but also don't want full payment up front. Lists are not a meaningful indicator of how many carts I would need to build as people sign up for lists then never follow through. And, full payment up front comes with higher expectations. So I think a better answer is to create a reservation system.

 

I will still release carts with the current lottery system, but if you miss out, don't fret. I am going to allow people to reserve a Concerto with a deposit. The $10 deposit is 100% refundable for any reason, and at any time, just ask. If you go on to purchase a Concerto through the reservation system, the $10 is also a down payment and will be used toward the cost.

 

There are a limited number of reservation slots. I will only allow as many reservations as I feel I can accommodate in about 30 days. I won't publicly display who made a reservation, but if you do make a reservation, I will let you know what your place in line is, and try to make an educated guess of how long it will be until you are invited to buy.

 

The $10 also does two more things:

 

1. It also locks in the sale price of $89, even if the regular price goes back up to $99, as I intend to return to the regular price once the preproduction carts are sold out and Concerto goes into general production.

 

2. An additional benefit from being a reservation holder is you will get the first shot at two new products I am working on:

 

One, a power adapter for the 7800. This allows you to use a bog-standard 12v PSU, *either* tip polarity, or even AC output. There will be 2.5mm and 2.1mm versions available, or with both plugs in one. Plug your PSU into the adapter, and the adapter into the 7800 with the included pigtail. The adapter itself is small: it is roughly the length of an SD card, but about half the width. It is designed to provide up to 1.5A of clean, filtered 9V power to your 7800, with quality brand-name components, so you don't have to worry about poor regulation, overvoltage or anything else you might find by using the direct output from a questionable PSU. Although it's designed for the common 12v power supplies, it should work with around 10v-24v, so you can use an adapter you probably already have. The expected price of this board will be $10 to Concerto owners. (This adapter is ready to order, actually, but I just need to find a source for the Atari 7800 connector housing. The ones I have found do not fit snugly enough, so I am still searching.)

 

Two, HOKEY! HOKEY is a POKEY replacement chip, if you aren't aware. Unlike other POKEY replacements, HOKEY is microcontroller-based, which allows for flexibility that is hard to match with a standard hardware approach. So, HOKEY will not necessarily just be a POKEY chip.

 

Once the basic POKEY is validated on the new design, I will begin work on an enhanced HOKEY and attempt to tackle Bupchip, plus an emulator author wants to adapt HOKEY to emulate the YM2151 chip and digital sample playback with PCM output once the basic driver is working, so that homebrew boards will have a reliable source of high quality sound chips without having to locate old chips or use expensive replacements. HOKEY is expected to start at $10. Although HOKEY is being designed specifically with the Atari 7800 homebrew market in mind, you can also use one on a Concerto.

 

The reservation system should go live shortly, and another batch of Concertos will be released for sale as well!

 

* The order page is here: https://erstwhile-technologies-7800.square.site/

 

If Concerto is sold out, there is a link on the product page to reserve a Concerto from an upcoming batch.

sold out and no link to future barch

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7 hours ago, batari said:

The production Concerto isn't sold out right now. Apparently the link on the first post was showing only the the pre-production version (which is currently sold out) rather than the main page that also shows the production version.

It was mentioned that the production versions only had half the RAM as intended? I am concerned that once I solder in the POKEY that I will have to desolder it later to upgrade. Is that not the case?

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20 minutes ago, ChrisKewl said:

It was mentioned that the production versions only had half the RAM as intended? I am concerned that once I solder in the POKEY that I will have to desolder it later to upgrade. Is that not the case?

The POKEY has a socket, you do not need to solder anything.  The RAM upgrade is not mandatory if you don't care about support for ROMs up to 1024K.  If you choose to upgrade it, you would need to send the cart back to Batari, as three surface mount chips would need to be soldered into place.  As far as I know, he is still working on some firmware updates before that upgrade will be ready to go.

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